Union Cabinet approves construction of 12 Industrial Smart Cities across the country

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet today approved the establishment of 12 industrial smart cities around the country. This would give work for around 10 lakh people.The Union Information and Broadcasting Minister has provided information on this. The total cost of these projects will be Rs 28,602 crore. According to Vaishnav, these industrial smart cities are being created as part of the National Industry Development Corridor Program.

Following the cabinet meeting, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav stated that this will result in around 10 lakh direct and 30 lakh indirect employment opportunities. The focus will be on plugin play and walk-to-work principles. Today, manufacturing activity from all over the world is moving to India. Whether it is electronics production, mobile manufacturing, or military manufacturing, all are moving to India. These corridors and these industrial area projects will accelerate that change.

The cities which include in Industrial Smart Cities projects are: Rajpura-Patiala- Punjab, Khurpiya- Uttarakhand, Agra- Uttar Pradesh, Prayagraj- Uttar Pradesh, Gaya- Bihar, Dighi Port- Maharashtra, Jodhpur-Pali-Rajasthan, Kopparthi- Telangana, Zahirabad- Telangana, Orvakal- Andhra Pradesh, Palakkad- Kerala.

Union Minister Vaishnav revealed just the names of 11 of the 12 cities, citing the model code of conduct in effect owing to the upcoming assembly elections in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir as the reason for not revealing the last name.He further stated that the Union Cabinet approved equity support of Rs 4136 crore for hydropower development in the Northeast regions.

In addition, the Cabinet has approved three railway projects which include Jamshedpur Purulia Asansol, 37 km long new double line from Sardega in Sundargarh district to Bhalumuda in Raigarh district, 138 km long new line from Bargarh Road to Navapara (Odisha).Apart from this, the Union Minister also informed that the Cabinet has also approved the auction of 734 channels of private FM radio in 234 cities across the country.